


Day 2: Hypothermia

by GemmaRose



Series: VLD Whump Week [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran (Voltron)-centric, Gen, Hugs, Hypothermia, Team as Family, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 08:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11801814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: Downed in a shuttle during an ambush, Coran must survive a blizzard with only his wits, centuries-old survival training, and what meagre supplies he can scavenge from the wreck.





	Day 2: Hypothermia

Coran shivered, and rubbed at his sides again. “Come on, come on.” he muttered, squinting at the dim digital display. It had to have been charging while he gathered the rest of the supplies, it had to. He thunked the little barrier generator with his fist, and it made its musical little shut-down noise. “No. No, no, you blasted piece of rubbish!” he grabbed the barrier generator and shook it. It didn’t turn on, not even to display its charging icon.

Breathing into his hands, he rubbed them together to get some feeling back in his fingers before prising open the power panel. If it was just a loose wire to blame, he could hopefully stick it back in place and use the wreck as a modicum of shelter as it gathered energy. The pale metal popped free with a bit of effort, and Coran’s heart sank. The crystal inside was degraded, the contacts pebbled with pale grey-blue growths that indicated it had been in standby mode for the past ten thousand years. “Quiznak.” he swore, throwing the barrier generator down on the ground.

He could do this, it hadn’t been- okay, it _had_ been ten thousand years and change since he underwent survival training, but he hadn’t been awake for most of that so it didn’t count. The first thing he had to do was find shelter, either a warm place or a cold one small enough his body heat could raise the temperature significantly. He ducked back into the shuttle, and grabbed the bag of salvageable supplies he’d so carefully put together. Ration bars, drink pouches, some rope and pitons, a mostly-intact shock blanket, and most importantly, the ship’s tracking beacon. If wasn’t much, but hopefully it was enough.

It had to be enough.

\---

Coran blew on his hands again, tired legs dragging through the snow as he pressed onwards. If he could just find a cave, even a shallow one, he could get out of this blasted wind. The snow wasn’t nearly as deep here, only halfway to his knees instead of almost to his hips, but between it and the knife-like wind he was losing body heat fast. He shivered hard, and stepped sideways to knock his shoulder against the cliff face again. He was sure he’d glimpsed caves along this stretch of rock during a brief break in the howling wind, it couldn’t be that much farther. Unless... 

Coran stopped, his heart sinking in his chest. Unless he’d misjudged which way his course drifted, and those caves had been in the other direction. Had they been? He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember, but he didn’t have the energy to turn around and fight the wind to head the other way. He had to keep moving, if he sat down to rest at this point he wasn’t sure he could get back up. The cold had sunk its fangs into his very bones, robbed his limbs of feeling, but he wouldn’t let it steal his life. He cupped his shaking hands in front of his face, and breathed in that little enclosure as he kept walking.

“Just keep moving, Coran.” he mumbled to himself. “Just keep-” his foot caught on something beneath the snow, and he toppled sideways with a yelp. The ground was cold, even colder than the air, and Coran scrambled to stand and dust himself off. His head hit something before he could straighten up, though, and his eyes widened. The wind was still howling around him, near-omnidirectional as it was, but he’d found a cave! Now he just had to- “Quiznack.” he swore under his breath, or at least tried to, but his lips and tongue were too cold-numbed to form the sounds properly so it came out more of a jumble of sounds.

The sentiment remained unchanged, though. He couldn’t remember what his plan had been, beyond finding a cave. And on that topic, how big even was this cave? He started forwards, hands outstretched, and found a wall. Following it, he quickly made a tight 180° turn and wound up back at the cave mouth, which was half full of snow. So, not too big. It wasn’t connected to a cave system either, at least that he could tell, so there was nowhere deeper for him to go to get out of the wind. Out of the wind. An idea popped into his head, and he grinned. He had a blanket in his bag, and pitons. If he could find a rock to hammer with, he could turn the blanket into a wind shield and rest in here.

Unfortunately, the cave had no rocks, but even damp the blanket was drier than his clothes when he dug it out so Coran pulled his suit off and folded it as best he could with his stiff fingers. The blanket was shorter than he’d thought, burnt and torn on one side, and he wrapped himself in it as best he could. It wouldn’t’ve made a good wind-shield anyways, the cave mouth was too big. He settled against the back of the cave with a sigh, and watched with the occasional shiver as the entrance slowly filled with snow.

He was going to die here. The thought didn’t scare him as much as he’d thought it would. Allura had the Paladins to look after her, and between Hunk and Pidge the castle was in good hands. Coran let his eyes slide shut, and made himself as comfortable as he could against the wall. It was no blaze of glory, like Alfor had gone out with, but it wasn’t a bad death either.

\---

“Coran? Coran!”

Someone was pulling at his arms, trying to uncurl his limbs. Coran tried to pull the blanket back around himself, and heard a choked noise as hands tightened around his wrists.

“He’s alive!” another voice gasped.

“We need to get him back to the castle.” said someone further away.

“I got you.” the first voice said, strong arms reaching under him and lifting his body. He couldn’t put words to it, or pry his eyes open to check, but knew the armour pressing against him and the voices so audibly full of relief, so he let himself drift back to sleep.

\---

The next time he woke, Coran felt like a steaming pile of gazurga droppings. Very, very warm gazurga droppings. He was wrapped in what felt like at least three heavy blankets, with small heaters tucked under his arms and in the front pockets of his pyjamas and sweat making the fabric of the innermost blanket stick to his skin. He was also laying on a bed, with the mattress dipping drastically on one side. He opened his eyes, squinting for a moment as they adjusted to the dim light, and turned his head to see what was weighing it down so much.

Empty chairs? He frowned. That just plain didn’t make sense. Who had dragged almost half a dozen chairs into his bedroom? He turned his head further, and his chest tightened like it wanted to push his heart out through his mouth. The chairs weren’t empty at all, but occupied by Allura and the Paladins. They all looked a mess, slumped in their seats at odd angles and still wearing their battered armour. Allura’s hair had come half loose of its tightly braided bun, the flyaways a delicate cloud around her slack face, and Coran’s chest ached with a powerful surge of affection for all six of them.

“Number Two.” he said softly. No response. “Hunk?” he tried, and the Yellow Paladin lifted his head with a groggy blink. Alright, he’d remember that in the future. Then Hunk’s eyes flew open all at once, and he sat up so quickly his chair wobbled.

“You’re awake!” he cried, grabbing Pidge next to him and shaking them. “Guys, wake up, Coran’s awake!”

That did it, rousing the rest of the teens and young adults sleeping on the edge of his bed. The mattress shifted as Hunk climbed onto it, and Coran sighed as the first blanket was undone. “Thank you, Hunk.” he grinned, sitting up as the second one was loosened. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t’ve been able to get free of that by myself.”

“I’m so glad you’re alright.” Allura said, her voice soft, and Coran turned to her as he shrugged off the final blanket. “When your ship went down, we all feared-”

“Ah, no need for that.” Coran said briskly, un-sticking the heaters from his armpits and gesturing Allura over to him. She walked around to his side of the bed, rather than crawling over like Hunk had, and he pulled her into a hug as soon as she was within reach. “I’m here, and I’m alright.”

“But you almost weren’t.” Lance piped up. His hair was a mess, and the edges of his eyes were still ever so slightly red. “When we found you-”

“You carried me back to the castle and made sure I recovered.” Coran said, interrupting Lance. “Let’s not bother ourselves with almosts, hmm?” he quirked a smile, and Pidge gripped the piece of tech in their hands tighter. “Something the matter, Number Five?”

“It’s my-”

“No, no.” Shiro butted in, pulling the machine from Pidge’s hands. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent, and Coran briefly wondered how long he’d sat up watching before exhaustion claimed him. “Pidge, I’ve told you already that this wasn’t your fault. You too, Keith.” he gave the Red Paladin a stern look, and Keith shrank in his seat. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

Coran sighed, and lifted a hand from Allura’s back to beckon the Paladins over. Lance crawled up on the mattress next to Hunk, Pidge following to settle between them while Shiro and Keith circled around to stand a respectful distance from Allura. Coran beckoned them closer again, and then slung his free arm around Hunk and Pidge’s necks and pulled them in. Shiro and Keith hesitated a moment when he held out his other arm, but Allura grabbed Keith by the wrist and Shiro followed him.

“I’d be a fool to blame any of you.” Coran said softly. “You saved my life, and for that I cannot possibly express enough gratitude.”

“We had to save you.” Keith mumbled from his spot squished between Allura’s shoulder and Coran’s armpit. “You’re part of the team.”

“Part of the family.” Lance corrected. “That’s what you said when we were heading down, you called us a family.”

“Shut up.” Keith muttered as the others awwed. Coran smiled wide, and hugged them tighter for a second.

“I would be honored to call you all my family.”


End file.
